Welcome to PokerNews' Day 4 coverage of Event #51: $1,500 No-Limit Hold'em Monster Stack. The starting field of 7,862 entrants is down to just 62 players, each with hopes of capturing a coveted World Series of Poker gold bracelet and the first-place prize of $1,327,083.
Leading the way into Day 4 is Sean Drake with 4,975,000. Drake has been under the WSOP spotlight before, having captured a bracelet in 2011. This time however, the stakes are quite a bit higher and Drake would like nothing more than to add a second piece of WSOP jewelry to his wrist.
He'll have plenty of competition, however, as several excellent players remain in the hunt. Among them are Joe McKeehen (3,740,000), Jason Duval (3,465,000), Zach Gruneberg (3,300,000), Thayer Rasmussen (3,005,000), Bolivar Palacios (2,595,000), Steven Levy (1,975,000), Tom Alner (1,785,000) and Mathew Frankland (1,575,000). The Day 4 table and seating assignments can be found here.
Play is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. and the plan for the day is to either play 10 levels or down to a winner. Be sure to keep it here at PokerNews' to see the conclusion of this historic event!
Austin Bursavich opened the button to 125,000 and Constantin Meyer defended his big blind to see a flop fall.
Meyer check-called a bet of 155,000 before leading for 500,000 when the turn landed the . Bursavich shoved and Meyer called all-in for roughly a further 1.1 million.
Meyer:
Bursavich:
In a battle of the low cards, Meyer had Bursavich's straight draw dead and left him only drawing to two of the remaining treys in the deck.
"No three please dealer" pleaded Meyer.
The dealer burned and turned the devastating on the river to launch Meyer to his feet while simultaneously retrieving his phone to take a photo of the horrible beat he had just witnessed.
As Meyer headed to the rail, Bursavich soar his stack rise to 6.25 million.
On a flop of , Sean Drake bet out 625,000 only to have Gary Chau move all in for 3,765,000. After a few moments of consideration, Drake made the call to Chau at risk.
Chau:
Drake:
With Chau needing to spike a two-outer, the turn and river landed the and to end his run in a gallant 39th place as Drake soared to 11.65 million in chips.
Catching the action with the board reading , Zachary Gruneberg bet out and Michael Arrington moved all in for roughly 3.3 million with Gruneberg quickly calling.
Gruneberg:
Arrington:
With Arrington drawing dead, the river landed the to send him out 36th place as Gruneberg climbed to roughly 8.4 million in chips.
Quang Tran shoved from middle position for about 540,000 and was called by Austin Bursavich in the small blind.
Tran:
Bursavich:
The flop fell to give Tran the lead with a pair of jacks, but the fell on the turn to give Bursavich trip tens. The river failed to save Tran, who collects $50,202 for his 26th-place finish.
The action folded to Michael Beattie and he moved all in for 890,000. Christoph Csik called next to act before Nicholas Pupillo three-bet all in for 2,615,000. The blinds passed, and with Csik needing to call an additional 1,725,000, he eventually made the call to put two players at risk.
Beattie:
Csik:
Pupillo:
With Pupillo in fantastic shape to more than double, the flop changed little, but the on the turn gave Pupillo top set while also giving both Beattie and Csik flush draws.
The dealer burned and turned the on the river to ensure Pupillo soared to 6.4 million as Csik slipped to 630,000 and Beattie headed to the rail in 25th place for a $50,202 payday.
Joseph McKeehen opened the cutoff to 240,000 and Mathew Frankland called from the button before Mark Allen moved all in for 720,000 from the small blind. Zachary Gruneberg made the call from the big as both McKeehen and Frankland folded.
Allen:
Gruneberg:
With Allen in dominated shape, the board would ensure his elimination in 24th place as Gruneberg climbed to roughly 10.6 million in chips.
A preflop raising war ended with Kevin Danko all in for 3,980,000 and Bobby Byram having him barely covered with 4,125,000.
Danko:
Byram:
This was the second time in the last two levels that Byram found himself on the better side of poker's sickest cooler. The dealer fanned out a board of and Danko was led to the payout desk.
Jason Leifer raised to 240,000 from under the gun, Paul Mattioda three-bet shoved from the cutoff for about 1.46 million and Mat Frankland called from the small blind. Leifer gave it some thought before he folded.
Mattioda:
Frankland:
The board ran out , no help to Mattioda, giving Frankland the pot.
![[user139916]](/img/avatars/avatar.svg){kind=avatar}
flop fall.
. Bursavich shoved and Meyer called all-in for roughly a further 1.1 million.
on the river to launch Meyer to his feet while simultaneously retrieving his phone to take a photo of the horrible beat he had just witnessed.
, Sean Drake bet out 625,000 only to have Gary Chau move all in for 3,765,000. After a few moments of consideration, Drake made the call to Chau at risk.
and 
to end his run in a gallant 39th place as Drake soared to 11.65 million in chips.
to send him out 36th place as Gruneberg climbed to roughly 8.4 million in chips.
on the river to ensure Pupillo soared to 6.4 million as Csik slipped to 630,000 and Beattie headed to the rail in 25th place for a $50,202 payday.
board would ensure his elimination in 24th place as Gruneberg climbed to roughly 10.6 million in chips.
